This blog is about being an assemblage artist living in Vancouver, BC. I use it to showcase my art, techniques, events and my travels.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Apparently Fall is coming!

Summer in BC!

SURFING:

We started off our summer with our 8th Annual Strathcona Surf Club contest. It takes place in Tofino, BC and most of us camp at Greenpoint Campground. A lot of the surfers come for the whole week and there are lots of beach and fire hangs, barbecues and surfing together. This year we had 18 people in the water surfing and boogie boarding. I won the trophy this year on my trusty Pipo! Our judge of 7 years, Dori Harrison had a job in Whistler so our stand in judge was Rob O'dea who did a fabo job of filling in with side kicks Dustin and Angie on bino and photography duty.

the surf gang

PIPO handmade by Arnt Arntzen out of red and yellow cedar.

the coveted trophy

boards waiting to be ridden

our lovely camp in the trees at Green Point

first year we have ever had rain but good thing the campsite comes with a dryer

Arnt and I spent another week camping at the Golf Course campground with more surfing, hiking and hanging with Sharon and Rob. Arnt, Rob, Jim and Wayson got out salmon fishing and filled all our freezers with cohoe.

our camp at the golf course is wide open with views of the mountains

camping is all about the food and margaritas after a good day of surfing

the boys look pretty happy with their catch

On our last night at camp a bright yellow bi plane came by and performed some amazing stunts including several loop de loops. An owl on the hunt also flew right by our heads a couple of times.

ROAD TRIP:

Our friends Rob and Rina from Amsterdam were coming with his two brothers to visit their cousin Pauline for a road trip and we decided to join them for part of it. First night was spent at the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel and Spa. Was a beautiful summer night and three pools to choose from. Had some nice meals and a chance to catch up.

playtime pit stop

Next we headed to www.singinglands.ca to visit Pauline's daughters Erin and Ali. They have 250 acres of beautiful rolling hills overlooking Deadman Valley covered with grasses, Aspen, Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir and Engelmann Spruce bordering a canyon with a 200 foot waterfall. They are growing garlic, have 3 pigs, chickens and 4 horses. They dug the garlic while we were there. 5000 heads will be coming to town once it has dried and been packaged. Will let you know when it does. Oh and they do all this off the grid.

garlic diggers

prepping dinner

3 of their 4 horses mowing the lawn

We visited the waterfall a couple of times, ghost ranch, hot tub, fires and lots of meals together. Our camp spot had the best view!

the ghost ranch is now back in the hands of the Skeetchestn native band after they bought it from the logging company

love the building techniques

We then said good bye to the Dutch and headed off on the logging roads to hook up with Hwy 97 to make our way to 108 Mile Ranch for my mother Eleanor's 84th birthday. My sis Debra and her husband Steve organized a nice party for her with friends and family.

When in the Caribou you spend a lot of time at the lake (there are hundreds to choose from). We went to Ruth Lake with family for a few days where there was fishing, swimming, kayaking, sea doing, boating and fires on the beach.

Fritz one of the family dogs stole our hearts...a real character

On
the way home we took the Duffy Lake Road that goes from Lillooet to
Pemberton, Whistler. Was a bit hard on the brakes and we had to stop
for them to cool down. Arnt tried a river and caught a few trout (catch
and release). Also when you are on the road in BC in the summer there
is always a truck on the side of the road selling Okanagan fruit and
berries. Stopped at most of them and loaded up.

SAILING:

Odin, our 21 foot converted life boat was next on the summer list. Usually we sail with Rob and Sharon on ERN but this year Rob is on the tip of the island cleaning up tsunami garbage from the beaches. Arnt will join him for a week end of July. So the two of us headed off and decided to go where the wind took us.

rounding Lighthouse Park to head to Gambier

good luck sighting

First stop Helkett Bay on Gambier Island. We thought we would be going up to Jedediah Island but the wind blew us south and we made for Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. Spent the evening with Arnt's dad and step mom Lloyd and Nancy and even got a visit in with old friend, Tony Grove who builds boats and teaches others how to. We pushed off early the next morning to go through the Gabriola Passage which is one of the many small openings between islands where the tide rips can be anywhere from 2 to 14 knots so has to be timed right to get through. (our boat's motors top speed without help from tide and wind is about 5 knots) There are whirlpools, eddies and tidal rips. We were now in the southern Gulf Islands and visited mostly Maritime Parks which are only accessible by private boats. It is a very busy place in the summer but our boat is only 21 feet on deck and has twin bilge keels which are not that deep under us so we can go quite close to the beach and have a bit of privacy from the other large boats which need more water under their keels. We can actually be on dry land as we sit flat.

Odin

This is why I go sailing with Arnt....look at that happy dance!

A few of the other boats we saw.
love these hard working tugs on our coast
this was a home made little speed boat
this apparently is our next boat when we need a bigger one

Arnt has been to Wallace Island but I had never been so was a nice stop with protected cove and lovely trails to walk on. In the 40's a man and his wife left San Francisco and moved to this island to open up a resort. They had one child, a boy. It was a lot of work and then in the winter very lonely. They sold it to the province for a nominal fee and the wife moved to Vancouver Island and the man died on the island at 93 years of age. The relatives still own a couple of houses on the island but the rest of it is a park. There are remnants of the the old orchard, farm vehicles and a couple of the old houses still standing.

Arnt had a Willy's jeep like this when he was a teenager

I think with the stump in front this must have been the old wood shed.

a lot of the boaters leave a sign that they have been there...we did leave one for Odin

detail of some of the signs

Arnt saw a Pileated Woodpecker quite close up and spent about 10 minutes watching him eat insects on a rotted log. Our list of animals and birds was quite extensive...we started naming them and Arnt even drew pics of some. Heron, otter, kingfisher, raccoon, deer and fawns, flounder being eaten by an otter, eagle, crow, raven, dragonfly, crab, sea lion, seal, vulture, perigrine falcon, owl and bats.

went for a walk on the island everyday and saw some sights

this is a metal boat on the beach that is the same as Odin...a lifeboat

the Arbutus trees are huge on this island

After a couple days there we moved on to Prevost Island which has lots of little bays to anchor in. This also was a homestead at one time and we picked apples and wished the plums were ready. We were in Selby Cove and there is a trail to James Bay where the old orchard is.

the apples were pretty good eating for an old tree

Arnt found some beautiful feathers under a big nest

Neither Arnt or I had been to Saturna Island so we headed over. Odin was a big hit at the dock...almost everyone commented even the kids. After having a great lunch at the seaside pub we needed to go to the grocery store. It is about 2 km up the road which is walkable but on most of the islands there is a "car stop" where you can just wait and someone will offer you a ride. The rules are the car does not have to take the first person in line and you don't have to get in the vehicle. We stuck our thumbs out and got rides both ways. We were really impressed with the grocery store...well stocked and not bad prices. Up north where we usually sail the stores are quite limited...sometimes just a cabbage and a carrot. Ran into an old friend Jane Wolsak whose brother lives on the island so we had a catch up in the check out line. Just across the bay is a marine park, Winter Cove and we tucked into a corner by ourselves. While walking we found that the blackberries were ready and we stuffed ourselves. We had no bag but I did have an island map so we made a bowl to collect some for breakfast the next day. We had blackberry, blueberry and strawberry pancakes and next day waffles. Yum Yum! Arnt tried fishing but no luck. Lots of bird watching and deer.

Church Cove with a little chapel on private land

map of island bowl

goodies from the fantastic market

Pender is right next door so headed over and had a lovely sail. We stayed out front of a marina and resort but it was a "1950's" vibe. There was a pub, bathrooms, kayak and canoe rentals and you can walk up to a shopping area with a great bakery and full on grocery store. Salmon that night!

There is a small gap between two bays but you have to go under a bridge. We had about 3 foot to spare to get under but we did get some stares as not many sailboats go under.

A few nights on Pender and then off to Saltspring. It is a fairly large island with a big population and lots of amenities. We went to our secret spot which can only fit one boat and is very shallow. All the land around it is private so not even any people on shore. The full moon!

Went for a walk around Ruckle Park which borders an old (still active) sheep farm.

This is the old barn which they use half for hay and the

other half is a museum of old farm machinery.

beautiful light in the old barn

this is the old forge with the tools still there

Friends of ours, Peter and Sibeal just bought a place outside

of Ganges and we stopped by as they have a dock.

lovely view from their deck with Odin at the dock

ART:

A textile artist Michelleat www.michellesirois-silver.com gave four of us a workshop on deconstructed print making on fabric and paper. We used plastic bubble wrap, lace, ribbon and several other items to create the patterns. Learned a lot and have an even bigger appreciation of her work.

so this is the pattern I made on the screen

and this is what I ended up with

I did another piece and used different inks and repeated the pattern

I like this one on linen using the pattern once

Ian Tan had a group show this summer and one of the artists my friend Deb Bakos did a demo of her cold wax technique. I love her work a lot! https://deborahbakos.com/

The show this summer at the Craft Council Gallery http://craftcouncilbc.ca/on Granville Island was two jewellers Louise Perrone and Jan Smith. Loved the use of unusual materials.

My brother, Glenn took a group of us to the Bill Reid Museum in downtown Vancouver for a tour with one of the curators. What a prolific artist Bill was.....painting, printmaking, carving, weaving, casting, textile, jewelry, etc. I highly recommend a visit.

I love the Franc gallery as it is not only in our old studio building but they put on quite interesting and thought provoking shows. www.francgallery.com This one was called Absence in Rememberance and was about the Japanese Canadian Internment. I must admit I was a bit hesitant to go as I am quite sensitive to this type of display. (I have been known to cry over a song or a commercial) Anyway I went and was glad I did. Here is a sample of the work.

I am now getting ready for the www.eastculturecrawl.com in November. The series I am currently working on is called "Tools of the Trade". There will be about 6-8 pieces ready. I sold one to a new client called "Spirit of Fashion". Here are a couple photos of it.

I also did a commission for a client in which I used all the things she had found while renovating her 1890's house. Some things she had found while digging or tearing out a wall. I used an historic photo on the top and current photos on the bottom. Was a super fun piece to work on.

First Saturday Open Studios continues to be a hit with over 65 artists in

About Me

I have been an artist for over 20 years. As I travel in different countries, including my own, I find I need to create art to continue my experience and memories of those places. My assemblage pieces consist of found objects combined with my photographs and treasures collected during my travels. Once in the studio I take from my myriad of labeled boxes an object that I want to start with and combine it with other objects, text, photographs usually constructed in a found box to tell the story.